Experience the rainforest

Explore the rainforest without leaving the UK. The Living Rainforest is home to 700 species of plants and animals. Watch birds, butterflies, lizards and a two-toed sloth roam free in our tropical glasshouses.... Read more

Schools programme

Each year, The Living Rainforest's acclaimed education programme welcomes over 25,000 school children. Four tours are available, supporting key subjects in the Curriculum.... Read more

Our history

The Living Rainforest stands at the former site of one of Europe's leading orchid nurseries. In 1993, it re-opened as a rainforest visitor centre. Today, with registered educational charity status, we welcome over 90,000 visitors a year.... Read more

Solutions for sustainable living

The Trust for Sustainable Living, which runs The Living Rainforest, hosts a range of events on contemporary sustainability topics, including the annual International Schools Essay Competition & Debate and Schools Sustainability Challenge. Subscribe to our newsletter (below) for occasional news updates.... Read more

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Half-term flutter at The Living Rainforest

Visitors to The Living Rainforest, which is funded by the ReDiscover venture, will find themselves surrounded by newly-hatched tropical butterflies this half-term.

The rainforest-inspired visitor centre near Newbury, Berkshire, has received its first consignment of butterfly chrysalides this season from a butterfly conservation project in Costa Rica.

“Some of these pupae look just like little jewels,” said Toby Marsden, special projects officer in charge of the butterfly project at The Living Rainforest. “A few of them even look like they’re made of gold and silver. Many of them have hatched already, and the adult butterflies are enjoying their freedom in the warm atmosphere inside our glasshouses.”

Not all of the insect inhabitants at the centre have travelled thousands of miles from the tropics – some butterflies have been breeding at The Living Rainforest over the winter.

“Although most of the breeding happens over the summer, this is the first year that some caterpillars have continued growing throughout the winter. Visitors might see some brightly-coloured blue morpho caterpillars munching on the Magic Bean plant, and they won’t miss the adult butterfly – a huge, metallic blue butterfly that has been hatching on the plant over the last few weeks,” said Marsden.

The centre is open from 10am to 5.15pm every day, and visitors will find brighter weather in the middle of the day the best time to spot the tropical butterflies.